Portage Glacier sightseeing

[travelgirl87]

We're planning to drive down Turnagain Arm to visit Portage Glacier after our cruise. Any advice or "must-sees" enroute?

Also, I heard somewhere about a jade factory tour somewhere near Portage Glacier but I haven't been able to locate any details. Does anybody have the name of the place and/or the location?

Many thanks.

[Budget Queen]

Keep going and perhaps get a look at Hope?? The Portage Visitor center is worth a short detour. There are many pull offs on the Arm, I frequently stop at them all. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Palomino]

Hello,
We'll be visiting Portage Glacier this year too. Although we have been in the area this will be our first visit to the visitor's center.

I was able to find the info. below about the Jade company:

Kobuk Valley Jade Company PO. Box 516, Girdwood, AK 99587; 907-783-2764, 35 miles southwest of Anchorage at Mt. Alyeska Resort, offers gifts and jewelry from Nephrite jade (found in Alaska’s Kobuk Valley above the Arctic Circle). A spacious new building houses the gift shop and a glassed-in working area where visitors can observe jade boulders being sawed and polished. A magnificent totem pole fronts the building. Editor’s note: If you are traveling in the Kenai don’t miss the opportunity to visit this unique gift shop.

It looks like the Jade Company is in Girdwood at the Alyeska Resort. Maybe you'll want to stop in Girdwood for lunch, or visit the resort to take the tram up the mountain.

[Gardyloo]

Eat a light breakfast (or none) in Anchorage then have a [I]real[/I] breakfast at the bakery in the lodge at Alyeska. Or not breakfast, maybe, just a cinnamon roll - the mother of all cinnamon rolls. Then tram, then shopping and poking around the retail offerings in Girdwood, then on to Portage, through the tunnel to Whittier if you like for a look-see (or, better, a 26 Glacier cruise). Then continue on down to Hope, see if the humpies are in the creek, then back along the arm to Girdwood, dinner or whatever at the Double Musky, then back to town. Very fine day trip from Anchorage.

[travelgirl87]

Thanks!

[joannelyn]

We just made that drive from Anchorage to Portage Glacier last week. It is a beautiful drive. Look up in the mountains for Dall Sheep that stand on the cliffs and eat the grass! You will see plenty of bald eagles as well. We visited the Wild Alaska Animal Park just before you get to Portage Glacier. It was GREAT. Very inexpensive and a non profit organization that works to care for injured animals. All of the animals are in their natural outdoor setting. We saw Moose, Caribou, Grizzly Bear, Sitka Deer, Bison, Muskox, Elk and others...

Have a great trip!

Joanne

[travelgirl87]

Thanks Joannelyn! The animal park sounds like a lot of fun.